Hexmas Advent #4 - Meet Frau Perchta
Hexmas is just around the corner, and this year we will present four different Yule demons on each of the four Advent Sundays. Once again, the Christians have stolen another pagan god and spun it to be a Christian saint. Let me introduce you to the original Saint Lucia: Frau Perchta.
By Mikl Pis, WEIRD KULT
The Lucia procession is a relatively new event in Denmark, but dates back to the 18th century in Sweden, from where she came here. There is, however, another female light figure who is much older than Lucia, says Mads Kamp, communication inspector at Moesgaard Museum outside Aarhus.
Frau Perchta was cultivated in present-day Germany, the Alpine countries and Eastern Europe.
"Perchta is one of the oldest Christmas creatures we know of. She is an over 2,000-year-old fertility goddess who was cultivated in connection with the return of light," says Mads Kamp.
"Perchta is one of the oldest Christmas creatures we know of. She is an over 2,000-year-old fertility goddess who was cultivated in connection with the return of light," says Mads Kamp.
Perchta is a beautiful, white-clad woman who wears flowers in her hair. She can be both generous and strict. If you get close to her, she can sense whether you have been a good or bad person. In the case of the first, one gets a silver coin and is blessed for the rest of the year. If, on the other hand, you have not been good, she transforms into a foaming witch, rips open the person's stomach skin, removes the intestines, fills the stomach with straw and pebbles and throws the person into the well.
Don't fuck with Frau Perchta!
The Shining - but with a knife instead of an axe
Her name means "the shining one", and she is a figure who carries both the darkness of winter and the light that returns at the solstice - and a knife hidden under her skirt to cut you open, if you haven't cleaned the house for the holidays or been naughty!
Perchta had many different names depending on the era and region, like Berchta and Frau Holle.
I would definitely watch that movie!
Well, you actually can! Perchta is sometimes wandering around with Krampus, and because of this a film called Mother Krampus or 12 Deaths of Christmas was produced in the UK in 2017.
In the UK the film is called 12 Deaths of Christmas, but in the US it is known as Mother Krampus.
And here's a Hexmas gift for ya!
As our Advent Calendar has now come to an end, we want to thank you for tuning in every Sunday and reading this (because of course you have been here every Sunday, right?). And as a nice little Hexmas gift, we're proud to present the actual movie - free to watch right here!
Have a very merry Hexmas!
Read about Krampus from 1st Advent.